A gas insufflator is a device used to inflate the abdominal cavity. Insufflation of the cavity is necessary to provide a working space for a surgeon to examine the contents of the cavity or operate within the cavity. Insufflating the abdominal cavity with gas, normally carbon dioxide, elevates the abdominal wall and pushes the contents of the region, such as the bowel and the liver, away from the areas of the cavity requiring the surgeon's attention.
Various gas insufflators for use in the operating room are known. These insufflators infuse between 4 and 6 liters of carbon dioxide into the abdomen, creating a distention pressure of 15 mmHg (0.33 psi). Their flow rates range from 3 liters per minute to 15 liters per minute.
The carbon dioxide for the operating room units is supplied by large pressurized tanks. Flow rate and pressure may be regulated by controls located on the insufflator units, and monitors located on the units display gas flow rate, gas pressure, and the total infusion volume. These devices are large and cumbersome and therefore inconvenient for use in a doctor's office or emergency room. In these settings, it is desirable to have a compact hand-held insufflation unit. Such a simplified unit would lack most of the controls and instrumentation provided in an operating room insufflation unit, but would have to provide an adequate volume of insufflation gas without the risk of over insufflation.